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The A20/P20 combination takes up very little space, less than an intigrated it replaced and sounds a lot better.

Raul_77 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 30, 2019 12:10 am Very good news, I look forwards with impatience to the new NVA.
You have said that there will be improvements that have already been established by Richard Dunn, could I make a couple of suggestions?
First: the initiation system is very interesting, A20+P20+Cubettes, Would it be possible to merge the A20+P20 into one integrated amplifier? The reason for this is that it would simplify the system and would be less obstructive, a single box for electronics instead of two and a cable less, would leave the two inputs but would not require the direct or output for the power stage, thereby saving connectors and internal cables.
Second: Would customization be possible? Like when I buy a car, I can choose the paint, the rims, the internal equipment, accessories, etc. There are some other brands that do it, have a standard model and offer some kind of improvement, such as better quality capacitors, better volume potentiometer, better resistances in critical points, etc. Two versions could be offered, and as the NVA material is handmade the assembly work would be the same, we would only have to use some or other components.
And now that I've started, I'm done. NVA currently has analogue but not digital material, in the past it also had CD players. Would it be possible for them to think of a DAC NOS? something for example with a TDA1543, which is cheap. I suggest a DAC NOS because it has a more analog sound. Thank you.

There are advantages to separating the pre and power amps in that then the upgrade path becomes easier. For instance, a P50 pre, then cables to SSC, then a new power amp.
That is why it is the entry-level set - as an invitation to move up in the series when funds allow.

Richard did make 'specials' if people asked him (and often enjoyed the challenge, like the mega headphone AP10HJS with 2 PSU's) and he did say that any colour of Acrylic case was possible from his supplier - at extra cost. I think he considered a white series at some point.

DAC - Richard was more of a power-supply genius and wasn't very fond of digital. There was also an NVA turntable. The DAC market is very crowded and NOS DAC's are not too well-known (I have one).
For instance on AliExpress:
16X Parallel TDA1543HiFi Audio DAC
Difficult to make any profit when things like this are on offer.

There was a serious attempt a couple of years ago to create a new NVA CDP but this fell through due to lack of sufficient interest (Richard asked for pre-payment and didn't get the required number of applicants) and he couldn't find a CD-drive that suited his plans.
He wanted to take the insides of a pre-built player and the add a whacking great PSU to the drive and processing sides.

I don't think Richard made much, if anything at all on the introductory models and the AP20 was the introduction before the A20/P20 combination was developed. He had to increase the price of the AP20 to make money on it so it would be difficult to do much with these, although he would add a headphone output for minimal amount.

One thing to do with the P20 IMO would be to do away with the direct facility and make it a three input passive.
I have done this with mine and as a result it is a much more flexible device.

There were reasons why the P20/A20 came along. It was an excellent cheap introduction to the brand as intended and it kept me in a little bit of regular NVA work when the UK industry downturn started. It made none of us any money at all though, especially once the cables were being included as a package.

On a business level Steve, you have a P20 and want more inputs, you go up to a P50, which offers more flexibility plus the option of a stepped attenuator if you feel it 'sounds better' to you. The Chinese smd miniature type as used in the Tisbury *to my ears anyway* isn't as good as the little standard film pot normally used, although the bottom step on the volume level is obviously better and easier to set for channel balance...

Interestingly when I first contacted nva (ebay) it was to purchase a set of speaker cables ls2 they seemed good value, when they arrived they were a bit more than that. They were soon exchanged for ls1 and ssc soon followed. Later I contacted Richard again with a limited budget as whether to buy amp or speakers,his advice was simply cables,speakers amp, so I got cubetts. With regard to asking re a50 integrated he advised the starter amp, then if I liked the result upgrade. Never before had someone said spend less! Never got either amp because of his departure, my regret. Now it seems I may have the opportunity to do so and will as soon as things are sorted. His attitude and marketing were an eye opener and I sincerely hope that continues. As for what nva do next, I'm sure the people are more than capable, the basics imo are just great.

CN211276 wrote: ↑Tue Jul 30, 2019 8:13 am The A20/P20 combination takes up very little space, less than an intigrated it replaced and sounds a lot better.

I don't doubt what you say CN but the only reason i can think of why it would sound better is the proximity of all those unshielded (not twisted in pairs either with 0V) signal wires to the power amp transformer.

The one advantage of an integrated nva amp is there is no need for an interconnect between pre and power to degrade things. Seems that has been more than offset by the wires being close to the psu.

A P20 and A20 isn't as good (power wise) as an AP20, which I always felt a bit more capable and building on the musical sound of the basic pair. The AP50 and AP70 were sublime and kept a neat package (nice large custom-made knobs too which transformed the 'feel' of the basic pot and switch). I enjoyed doing those as you got far greater headroom with the extra clarity involved with this, especially into small speakers which really do seem to need it - compare using Cubettes to see what I'm aiming at here as I did.

Please allow me to comment, and I'll stop at this.
I prefer to have the system as simple as possible (I guess there will be more people), an integrated amplifier means fewer boxes and fewer cables than the option preamp+power amplifier. When merged the P20+A20 I had thought of something like those small integrated that had a few years ago: Cyrus 1 and 2, Naim Nait, Nytech, Onix, etc. The integrated+Cubettes would be like the one formed by the Nait+Kan, but the NVA is better and cheaper.
Yes, there is the AP20, but I consider it too expensive, as it offers the same as the P20+A20 with a few more entries. It would be good to convert it into an AP30 by increasing the power somewhat, so there would be an improvement route in the integrated: AP20 (P20+A20 merged), AP30, AP50 and AP70, in addition to the improvement route in the preamp+power amp sets. In fact you could probably eliminate the AP10 and leave the (new) AP20 as the minimum amplifier.
About personalization, there are brands like Audion (https://www.audion.co.uk/) that offer them in their products. For example, one could buy a standard AP50 or a SE (Special Edition), the difference could be better electrolytic capacitors, better volume potentiometer and special resistors in the feedback, the price difference would be for the improved components, the assembly work is the same.
And yes, I already knew those DAC's, or also the Teradak's, but if I've made the suggestion it's because I think NVA would do better and no one would mind paying double. Audio Note has DAC's NOS and CD's with a single TDA1543 (no more needed) and they add a valve output, the price is very high. I think NVA could perfectly do something similar, but instead of the tube output I could use a class A buffer with a medium power transistor per channel, and the result would be quite better than those Chinese DACs.
I repeat that I prefer to keep the systems simple, with fewer cables and fewer boxes, but these are just suggestions and naturally NVA will be the one to decide what is best for your business. Thank you.

The AP20 transformer is rather larger than the A20 type (around 60% greater capacity) and the difference to me was clearly audible on more 'spirited' music in my experience comparing to the A20.